Tonight I Dream. Tomorrow I Do!

Fruity Friday…Umm Sunday …The Toddy Palm.

Wandering around a local food market which we hadn’t visited before was a real treat, the market was an out-of-town rural market with a great many fruits and vegetables which we hadn’t seen before…Like this Toddy Fruit.

Lots of ants eggs, rats, fried insects, dried fish some of which I have not seen before and are locally caught.

Also various other unknown delicacies and ones which just looked …mmmmmm… questionable even to me…lol

Toddy Palm or as it is also known Palmyra palm, Doub palm, Tala palm or wine palm.

The fruit or the palm sugar is also used to make a variety of sweet desserts.

Let’s Cook!

Thati Manjula has a sweet taste and gelatin texture which is ideal for a number of sweet dishes such as milkshake by blending with nut milk and adding vanilla and other flavours like cinnamon, cardamom or rose-water and can also be enjoyed chilled.

Make payasam by heating nut milk, coconut milk and palm sugar. Add coconut powder and almond flour to thicken the mixture. Finally, pour into a mould here a folded banana leaf would be used and allow it to cool. Add chopped tropical fruits like pineapple or mango, shredded coconut and or nuts it is now ready to eat.

More interesting facts about the Toddy Palm.

It is a huge palm which can reach 30 metres in height and is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

The fruit which grows in clusters is hard-shelled and needs to be opened by someone who has a sharp machete.

This lady looks very adept with her knife unlike me who is quite liable to lose a few fingers.

Traditionally the sap is collected by tapping the top shoots and hanging and collecting the dripping sap in earthenware pots. The juice which is collected in the mornings is refreshing and light with a sweet sugary taste.

This fruit ferments very quickly and juice collected in the evening after fermentation is a sour fermented beverage.

Toddy sap fermented is called arrackor when concentrated to a crude sugar called Jaggery.

What is Jaggery?

Jaggery is sometimes called non-centrifugal sugar because it is not spun during processing thus removing the nutritious molasses.

Jaggery contains more nutrients than refined sugar due to its molasses content.

Medical benefits.

The tree sap is also a laxative and believed to have medicinal properties.

It is purely organic and a natural coolant for the body. It is known to contain Vitamins A, B-complex and C. It is also known to contain essential minerals like zinc, potassium, iron and calcium. It is known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

It can be used to treat nausea and vomiting and also worm infestation.

The sap is used as a tonic, laxative, for treating ulcers and liver problems. The pulp of the fruit is known to cure a number of inflammatory conditions of the skin.

Other uses:

Like a lot of trees and plants, their leaves and bark have many uses. The skin of the stem is used to make rope or woven into cots. The leaves are used to make hand fans, mats, hats, umbrellas and used as writing materials. The tree trunks are used to make canoes in Cambodia.

The Palmyra tree is the official tree of Tamil Nadu. Highly respected in Tamil culture, it is called Karp aha Veruksham (celestial tree) this is because all its parts have a use.

This fruit is not available in Europe or the US although it is sold in cans and it’s derivatives like palm sugar should be available.

I hope you enjoyed reading and learning a little about this very versatile tree and its fruit if you did please hit the share button or reblog…xxx

I have many friends who I learn from and I also cook a lot of Indian food and make own spices and mixes …I also managed to get ghee, hing and amchur powder last week I found an Indian store in Bangkok who deliver to me I am so excited I am telling everyone 🙂

Carol,
The toddy palm- so much information. These fruits are sold in the markets in Tamil Nadu but I never knew this was how it was to be eaten. Is palm olein made from this palm tree ?
Is payasam a Thai dish ? We eat it in South India with rice cooked in cow’s milk or coconut milk- never knew it could turn out like a cake.
We have a steamed cake called bamboo cake( puttu in local language) which is eaten with palm sugar( not solid gur but in a liquid form- mildly fermented- has a kick)
Susie

I think has its roots in India but like everything so many permutations ..yes lightly fermented would have a kick…Palm I believe is made from an African palm and sometimes and American one madefrom the red kernal…So many different palms and fruits it gets quite inolved doesn’t it , Susie?

Thanks. May I ask how you gather so much information about plants, plant products, fruits and so on( without giving offence). I so admire your ability to compile so much information about this, surely the information is not easy to come by?
Susie

By reading, subscribing to sites plus research If I come across anything different in my travels I just find out what I can by asking locals and reading up about it 🙂 I don’t mind you asking and I don’t take offence , Susie 🙂